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| March 29, 2007
| Cars
FactID: 454
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Rated
4.00 stars
from 8 votes
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65% of 2004 passenger cars have a data recorder built into them.
Event Data Recorders (EDRs) are similar to the "black box" of an airplane and record important information about the car in case of an accident. Metrics such as speed, braking, and other forces are recorded as often as every 5 seconds.
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 Email Fact |  IM Fact
|  Source: Wired Magazine
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| March 28, 2007
| Technology
FactID: 459
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Rated
3.50 stars
from 16 votes
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In the last 12 years, IBM has received 29,021 patents--more than any other company or individual in the world.
IBM inventions and discoveries include the following:
- magnetic storage (1955)
- the relational database (1970)
- DRAM (dynamic random access memory) cells (1962)
- the RISC (reduced instruction set computer) chip architecture (1980)
- fractals (1967)
- superconductivity (1987)
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| Source: Slashdot
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| March 27, 2007
| Cars
FactID: 461
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Rated
3.71 stars
from 14 votes
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AAA reports that there were 260,000 car fires in the US last year resuting in 520 deaths.
Suprisingly, 75% of those car fires are caused not by an accident but by bad maintenance. At least six flammable fluids under a car's hood can leak onto hot surfaces and start a fire. So AAA suggests fluid lines, hoses, caps and filters be inspected and maintained to prevent leaks.
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| Source: ABC News via Shiva Raj
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| March 26, 2007
| Food
FactID: 463
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Rated
4.60 stars
from 20 votes
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The 3 Musketeers bar was originally (1932) three pieces of candy in one package -- flavored vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Soon after, they reduced it to one chocolate bar but kept the original name.
In the United Kingdom and Australia, the 3 Musketeers is called a Milky Way, and the American Milky Way is called a Mars Bar. The American Milky Way is also a Mars Bar in Canada. Recently, the American Mars bar was renamed "Snickers Almond" to simplify chocolate-eating for world-travelers.
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| Source: Food Network & Wikipedia
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| March 24, 2007
| Society
FactID: 306
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Rated
4.20 stars
from 25 votes
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Black and Asian women earn slightly more than similarly educated white women.
This is according to figures from the Census Bureau's annual look at educational achievement in America. Considering only college-educated women, an Asian makes $43,700 on average, a Black woman makes $41,100 and a white woman makes $37,800.
At $66,390, white men with four-year degrees top the list (Jason).
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| Source: CNN via Katie Higgins
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| March 23, 2007
| Computers
FactID: 93
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Rated
4.24 stars
from 25 votes
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The QWERTY keyboard was
designed to be as inefficient as possible because if people
typed too fast the typewriter would become jammed. To alleviate
jamming, manufacturers arranged the keys so that many words
would be typed with only one hand, few words can be typed on
the home row, and the left hand gets the majority of the work.
The DVORAK keyboard, using a different setup, improves efficiency
by at least 70%. friends
don't let friends type QWERTY.
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| Source: Matt Mattila
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| March 21, 2007
| Cars
FactID: 108
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Rated
4.00 stars
from 5 votes
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Carmaker Saab was founded in the 1930s
when they made airplanes:
Saab was an acronym for "Swedish Aircraft, Ab" (where
"ab" is the Swedish equivalent of "inc.")
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| Source: CNN Money
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